Living with Trouble

The Apostle Paul knew a thing or two about trouble. He experienced it over and over.

In 2 Corinthians 11 Paul listed his afflictions. Almost all of these came because he followed Christ.

“Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been adrift at sea” (2 Corinthians 11:24-25). Paul even recounted how soon after his salvation he had to be smuggled out of Damascus to escape the wrath of the local governor (2 Corinthians 11:32-33). Paul suffered for his faith.

Amazingly, we tend to believe being a Christian should keep us from suffering.

Paul knew trials work for the believer, not against him.

Paul knew God doesn’t waste the trials that come to us. God uses all this for good for the one who loves God and who seeks to accomplish His purpose (Romans 8:28).

In Romans, Paul described the sequence of how God uses our sufferings and difficulties. Suffering produces patient endurance while patient endurance produces proven character. Proven character produces hope. Our hope does not disappoint us because God has poured His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:3-5).

Like the parallel passage in James 1:2-4, Paul wanted believers to rejoice or “exult” in their difficulties because of what those difficulties will do in their lives. No one should be happy in trouble, but we can rejoice knowing that God is working for our good. Both Paul and James looked at trials from the standpoint of their results.

Only Paul used the word “testing” in the New Testament. It referred to testing or purifying gold by bringing it to a boiling point. This allowed the lighter minerals (gold is a heavy metal) to rise to the top where the goldsmith could skim it off.

God uses our sufferings and tribulations to refine our lives and give our lives both endurance and a proven character. All of this leads to hope in God who delivers us from sin and walks with us through pain. Our hope tells us this “slight momentary suffering” is not the end or even the point. It shows us a God who is with us and who will never forsake us.

Wonderfully, this whole chain–sufferings, endurance, proven character, hope–is circular. Hope makes it possible to endure while the process of enduring increases our hope.

Hope does not disappoint. We can see this by the flood of God’s love given to us by the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

As you read this, remember that Paul wrote Romans later in his life after he had suffered great affliction. Paul knew affliction, and he knew the strong qualities that God produces from it.

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3 Responses

  1. “Paul knew trials work for the believer, not against him.
    Paul knew God doesn’t waste the trials that come to us. God uses all this for good for the one who loves God and who seeks to accomplish His purpose (Romans 8:28).”
    AMEN! & to this entire post.
    Thank you.

  2. “Annuity,” “destroyed,” “adversary’s” are the corrections to the previous post. Thanks. Romans 8:28, as you know, is a function of His Work in His which may or may not be exclusive to us. It is indeed in keeping with the Good Doctor’s and your postings. Been missing you guys…

    Blessings

  3. There is the trouble that we make; and then there is the trouble that is thrust upon us. There is the trouble of standing on Truth against conventional wisdom; and there is the trouble of eternal consequences for not joining those who have taken the stand.

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